The invention relates to an apparatus having a hollow element, for example a tube, a hose or similar components for directing a fluid, for example a gas or a liquid, and having a connection element for connecting the hollow element to at least one further hollow element.
There is often the problem in the art of connecting different tubes, hoses or other lines in which fluids are conducted to one another reliably and fixedly.
For this purpose, a plurality of more or less complex and/or expensive solutions are known which can be realized under specific environmental conditions. In this respect, special environmental conditions such as difficult accessibility of the connection point or also the small construction size of the connection to be established require special solutions. There can also be a special demand that, despite the leak tightness of the connection, it should still be movable, for example rotatable about its longitudinal axis.
Particularly demanding boundary conditions are encountered in the field of medical engineering when, for example, such hollow elements are present in the form of hoses or cannulae in which body fluids, biocompatible liquids or other liquids have to be transported within a body. Such connections are, for example, difficult to access during surgical procedures and must, on the one hand, be able to be established with a reliable seal in a short time and, on the other hand, be able to be adapted to individual body dimensions in a space saving manner.
It is already known to establish such connection as crimp connections with a radial seal, as is addressed, for example, in the German utility model DE 202 18 931 U1 in a cannula adapter for soft catheters.
A plug-in catheter connection is, for example, known from the German laying-open document DE 10 2006 035 257 A1.
Finally, connection pieces are also known for the connection of hollow elements to blood vessels such as the T-shaped connection piece known from the Canadian patent CA 2376118 A1 which can be introduced into a blood vessel.
Finally, a connection apparatus is known from WO 2004/001272 A1 for cannulae having a coupler which allows a latch connection between the cannulae to be connected.
Against the background of the prior art, it is the underlying object of the present invention to realize an apparatus of the initially named kind in a particularly simple construction and in this respect to achieve a particularly simple handling.